Contribution of $3,000 to aid in defeat of the anti-gay Proposal A in Kalamazoo, Mich.

People For the American Way is answering the distress call of Kalamazoo, Mich., citizens who are fighting Proposal A, an anti-gay ballot measure in that city. PFAW announced that it will donate $3,000 to the Kalamazoo Against Discrimination campaign fund to help defeat Proposal A, which voters will decide in the Nov. 6 election. Proposal A would amend the Kalamazoo City Charter to nullify existing laws and prohibit future ordinances protecting the city’s citizens on the basis of sexual orientation.

Explaining the urgency of People For the American Way’s donation, PFAW President Ralph G. Neas said, “One of the fundamental roles of government is to protect all of its citizens. The proposed amendment to the Kalamazoo City Charter runs counter to that ideal and is simply mean-spirited. I urge voters to reject Proposal A, the right-wing ideologues who are sponsoring it, and the hostile climate such ballot measures perpetuate.”

Proposal A on the Nov. 6 ballot will read:

Shall the Kalamazoo City Charter be amended by the addition of a new section entitled “Adoption of Special Class Status based on Sexual Orientation, Conduct, or Relationship Prohibited,” which shall provide that no special class status shall be granted based upon sexual orientation, conduct or relationships, and that the City of Kalamazoo and its various boards and commissions shall not adopt and enforce any ordinance or regulation which will afford protected status based on sexual orientation, conduct, or relationships, and that any ordinance or regulation enacted before this amendment that violates the provision shall be null and void?

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